Officials in Pennsylvanias state capital are dealing with an abysmal issue they cant afford to fix: 41 massive sinkholes throughout the city as wide as 50 feet and as deep as a typical grave.

................

But the city is too broke to replace many of the aging pipes and repave its roads as it deals with ongoing budget woes and the looming threat of bankruptcy, according to media reports.

The first of the recent sinkholes perforating Harrisburg was reported on New Year's Eve when a chasm measuring an estimated 50 feet long and eight feet deep, swallowed a neighborhood block, damaging water and gas pipes and forcing more than a dozen residents to evacuate their homes.

....................

In addition to the rising number of sinkholes, the struggling city has been unable to fix a sewage treatment plant that has been dumping toxic waste into the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

We can't do anything right now because no one will lend to us, William Cluck, chairman of the city agency that oversees the water-treatment facility, told the Journal. Harrisburg, which is in default on its debt, is unable to tap into the municipal-debt market, which cities and states use to finance their infrastructure, including bridges, roads and tunnels.

After city officials rejected a state-sponsored financial recovery plan in July 2011, Harrisburg was briefly transformed into the Greece of Pennsylvania, the New York Times wrote in an article published at the time.

The citys financial woes stem in part from a failed plan to borrow $350 million to upgrade an enormous trash incinerator. That plan fell through in 2010 after the federal government blocked the effort due to the threat of toxic air pollution.

Of course not caused, but fracking will be blamed nevertheless. "The fracking caused the ground to shake which broke the pipes which caused the sinkholes! Big Oil has to pay for the cleanup!" Or any of a dozen other excuses.

8
posted on 02/02/2013 6:51:58 AM PST
by FatherofFive
(Islam is evil and must be eradicated)

“Stephen Reed, Harrisburgs former mayor who ran the city for 28 years, brought it to near bankruptcy as the more than $500 million in bond deals he oversaw to finance development projects drained the city’s coffers, according to Bloomberg.”

2a) Have on hand an instructor to teach the welfare cases how to use a shovel: which end is the handle, hold the concave side up or the dirt will fall out, step on the ridge at the top when necessary, &etc.

:-)

13
posted on 02/02/2013 6:59:10 AM PST
by Nervous Tick
(Without GOD, men get what they deserve.)

...the struggling city has been unable to fix a sewage treatment plant that has been dumping toxic waste into the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

EPA should give them the Jefferson County treatment. But they won't because PA is a red state and this is the seat of government in PA.

Jefferson County Recap: In 1993 attorney Bart Slawson filed a lawsuit against the county on behalf of residents near the Cahaba River alleging that the county's sewer system was spilling and overflowing during heavy rains, allowing large amounts of untreated wastewater to enter the Cahaba River

The county settled both lawsuits in the US District Court by signing a consent decree in December 1996. The county agreed to make the improvements necessary to satisfy the EPA that the system complied with the federal Clean Water Act.

Altogether, the cost of complying with the decree was estimated to be $1.2 BILLION. Population: 600,000

Amazing that they can’t afford to fix these obvious slaps at the EPA and we don’t see any heavy-handed law suits being levied. If an average citizen had such discrepancies, they would be in debtor’s prison just for the interest on the fines...

Pennsylvania has beautiful countryside, forests, mountains, & picturesque small towns. I have driven through PA often.

But its cities suck! Every single time the interstate runs through or near built up areas, traffic slows to a single-lane crawl. And I wouldn’t touch Philadelphia with a thirty nine and a half foot pole!

29
posted on 02/02/2013 7:14:20 AM PST
by elcid1970
("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")

2a) Have on hand an instructor to teach the welfare cases how to use a shovel: which end is the handle, hold the concave side up or the dirt will fall out, step on the ridge at the top when necessary, &etc

'learn something new everyday!

31
posted on 02/02/2013 7:15:18 AM PST
by Walmartian
(I'm their leader. Which way did they go?)

And this is the weekend the gun show would have been held in Harrisburg. Its ‘postponement’ had to be a total killer to the city’s economy.

I DO feel badly for the decent, hard-working people there, but they keep voting into office people who have no idea what they are doing, who think the public coffers are there to pay off their base and their cronies, while enriching themselves and their families. Not a Rx for success.

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